


Letting Go

by ShroomShake



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Soen no Kiseki/Akatsuki no Megami | Fire Emblem Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn
Genre: Abandonment, FE Writer's zine 2020!, Gen, branded, but its okay cuz they reunite 2 years later
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-08
Updated: 2020-11-08
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:55:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27457579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShroomShake/pseuds/ShroomShake
Summary: A piece depicting the moment Micaiah decided to part ways with Sothe before the events of Path of Radiance. Written for the Fire Emblem Writer's Zine!
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	Letting Go

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Fire Emblem Writer's Zine, for which I was the finance mod for! I'm so happy to have been a part of such a wonderful project. We were able to donate $239.16 USD to our charity We Need Diverse Books!
> 
> https://twitter.com/fewriterszine/status/1323939251944378368?s=20

* * *

“Your form is getting better by the day, Sothe,” Micaiah commented as Sothe swung his dagger at a tree.

She almost felt sorry for it, as Sothe relentlessly shredded the trunk into flimsy, unusable strips of bark. 

“I’ve got to learn to be of _some_ use, right?” he replied. 

He attempted to practice a flip by kicking off the side of the trunk, but his boot caught one of the snagged pieces of wood leftover from his knife slices, sending him plummeting to the ground. Landing with an ungraceful _thud,_ Micaiah rushed to his side. 

“Oh, you _must_ learn to be more careful, Sothe! Are you alright?” she asked, already scanning over his bodies for injury. 

“Ugh… ow. I’m fine, Micaiah. I’m not a kid anymore, you know,” he grumbled, standing up and brushing the dirt and leaves from his clothes. 

“I’m not trying to treat you like one. I’m just looking out for you, is all,” said Micaiah, frowning.

“I know. Thanks,” he said, walking back over to sit near their campfire. It seemed he had his fill of training for the day. 

“You sure are right about not being a kid anymore, though. It’s like you grow a head taller every time I turn around! Where _does_ the time go?” Micaiah reminisced, taking a seat across from him. 

“But what about you, Micaiah? I mean, you haven’t changed a bit since the day we met. How old were you again?” Sothe said curiously. Micaiah felt her pulse quicken. 

“I thought we had discussed this before. I have always been an orphan, and I have no clue when or where I was born,” she said, praying to the stars above that they wouldn’t continue to dwell on the topic. 

“I know that, but, you don’t have _any_ guesses at all? You haven’t…I don’t know, kept track?” Sothe pressed. Micaiah scowled, letting irritation get the best of her. 

“When you spend most of your life focusing on surviving to see another day, precious little time is devoted to such frivolous things. _You_ should know that as well as I,” Micaiah said, delivering her words in a far more scathing and bitter tone than she had intended. 

Sothe went silent, averting his gaze down to the fire that flickered between them. In their silence, the buzz of cicadas began to fill the air as the sun set on the mild summer evening. 

“It’s okay, Micaiah,” Sothe said as she opened her mouth to apologize, already anticipating what would leave her lips. They had come to understand each other well in their years living and traveling on their own. 

“I’m probably going to settle in for the night. We’ve got a lot of traveling to do tomorrow to reach Crimea,” Sothe said. 

“But we have not eaten supper yet,” said Micaiah as he unpacked a blanket. 

“You go ahead. I’m really not that hungry tonight,” he replied. A lie. “Good night, Micaiah,” he said, crawling into his tent. 

Far from civilization in the mountainous forests on the border of Daein and Crimea, the pair hadn’t the food or supplies to last them both before the next inhabited city. She knew he was hungry - he _must_ be. Yet, as always, he elected to put her above himself. 

_You don’t have_ **_any_ ** _guesses at all? You haven’t kept track?_

Sothe’s words echoed in her head. She was lying, knowing exactly her age, and why it didn’t seem to move with the flow of time. 

Slipping her black glove off, Micaiah stared at the mark of the Branded on the back of her right hand. Here it was: her curse, her ticket to a life of solitude and rejection. Twenty-three years she had spent on this earth, yet it didn’t show on her face. 

What a disservice she was doing Sothe, continuing to burden him with her presence. Forgoing his basic needs, and for her of all people. For someone who, for all intents and purposes, had no place in Tellius society.

Accepted by neither beorc nor laguz, the life of a Branded was nothing if not lonely. At least on account of it, Micaiah had learned the utmost self-sufficiency. As a Branded, she was a walking blaspheme against the goddess herself. Or so everyone claimed. She wondered how many others were like her. 

It was wrong to keep stringing Sothe along. To lure him into a false sense of security, that they would be together for the long run. Of _course_ that couldn’t be true. With his eventual success in life in mind, Micaiah had full intention of parting ways with him before she tarnished his social standing.

Whether he agreed with such intentions or not. 

They would be venturing along the northern edge of Daein and Crimea on the morrow, sure to reach the surrounding villages of Port Toha in just a few days’ time. 

Port Toha, having direct departures to Begnion, would be Micaiah’s most opportune time to part ways with Sothe. She would have to be swift and secretive with her plan. 

She didn’t feel ready. When the world had felt so lonely, Sothe had been there to ease the desperation of solitude. He was like family, the only family she had ever known. She wasn’t _ready_ to leave him behind. 

But it was _because_ she cared for him so much that she knew this must be done. In just a couple days’ time, she would be boarding a ship sailing to Begnion - alone. 

~~~

The few days it took to arrive at the Crimean village seemed to pass by all too quickly for Micaiah. 

“I was starting to get a little worried we wouldn’t make it. Our supplies were running pretty thin,” Sothe said as they scanned the market. 

“Mhm. But things always work out, don’t they?” Micaiah replied, her mind elsewhere. 

“Miraculously. You must be some kind of good luck charm. Now, what’s on our list first… we definitely need a refill on water. Some dried meat and perhaps fruit, if we can afford it, would do us well too…” Micaiah zoned out as Sothe rambled off their shopping list. 

Trying her best to be subtle, her eyes were not on the wares of the marketplace, but rather on the people around them. It was quite busy, and would be easy to get lost in the shuffle of the crowd. 

Micaiah’s gaze fixated on what looked to be a farmer, loading a horse-pulled cart with wares. The cart looked near-full, a sign to her that he was ready to depart. Her hand hovered over her small knapsack, feeling the coins in her change purse. The closer it seemed to inch toward her window of opportunity for her getaway, the more she seemed to lose her nerve. She knew she had to see it through, for Sothe’s sake. 

He would be hurt. Heartbroken, angry, betrayed-but in due time he would realize how much of a blessing it would be when time showed him the plight of the Branded, and the social rejection associating with someone sharing both the blood of the beorc and the laguz would bring.

 _Smile, Micaiah,_ she told herself. _Rejoice in the chance at life you’ve given the one you love the most._

The silver-haired maiden clutched that feeling close in her heart-that she would be so blessed as to find someone she truly loved in a world that had scorned her so. 

“Sothe. Shall we split up to make the task easier? I’ll grab the items from our grocery list, while you search for any useful weapons? Oh, and maybe see if there’s someone who can patch that hole in your cloak for cheap,” Micaiah suggested. 

For years now, Sothe had always worn the cloak Micaiah donned when they met for the first time. A meek, skinny little boy who stared at her from a corner in the back alleys of Nevassa, who had the most piercing, vibrant gaze Micaiah had ever seen. When she had first approached him, Micaiah offered her hand to him, that same cloak wrapped snugly around her body. When Sothe placed his own tiny hand in hers, she couldn’t find it in her to let go. 

Until now, of course. 

“Sounds good to me. Meet back up here in an hour?” he asked. 

“Mhm,” Micaiah nodded her head. 

As Sothe walked away, disappearing amongst the crowd, Micaiah’s stomach turned to think it would be the last time she saw him again. Closing her eyes for a brief moment, she imprinted his face into her memory, lest the long years ahead of her steal it away from her. 

Her conviction unfaltering, Micaiah headed straight for the man loading up his wagon. Approaching him with her request and an offering of gold, the farmer was happy to accept her plea for transportation to Port Toha. As expected, it’s where he was headed anyway to trade and ship goods. 

“Let’s make it quick, if you can,” said Micaiah as she disappeared under the drapes of the covered wagon’s cargo. It was much more cramped inside than it looked.

Soon enough, the cart began moving, and Micaiah poked her head out of the covers and watched the marketplace grow smaller and smaller. 

There was still time to change her mind. Things could be worked out - they had made it this far, and-

_Stop being selfish, Micaiah. You’ve done well. You’ve watched him grow, taught him to fend for himself. He can even wield a weapon. He’ll have a fair shot now._

Soon, the town was naught but a speck on the horizon as the sun sank lower in the sky. Micaiah pulled her knees to her chest, a sting in her nose. A deep inhale. A shuddering sob racked her body on the exhale, and tears flowed freely down her face as she buried her head in her arms. To lose the only family she knew hurt, and left her feeling stranded and exposed, like being alone at sea in a raging storm. Yet it was stifling as well, filling her with the desperation and powerlessness of a caged animal. For the first time in her life, she felt truly alone. 

But, as her years had already taught her, time would surely help ease the hurt. 

  
  
  



End file.
